Let's dig right in! The holidays are upon us and if we don't watch it, soon enough so will those extra pounds also be upon our hips! Thanksgiving is a personal favorite of mine, pumpkin pie would be my one downfall each year among many other dishes SO, I want to talk about how planning and substituting can always help. Sweet Potato casserole has always been a favorite to this southern gal, so instead of skipping I did some swapping. Boiled my sweet potatoes, mashed them and instead of sugar and butter threw in my vanilla non fat Oikos Greek Yogurt, some cinnamon, and a pinch of splenda brow sugar. It was delish! But even more so knowing I didn't have to feel guilty. Another favorite has always been my step mom's broccoli casserole and since I wasn't at home this year I HAD to make it to feel like I was right? So I took some steamed chopped broccoli and added in the stuffing mix and some fat free cream of mushroom, a table spoon of non fat plain Greek yogurt, fat free cheddar and two egg whites. The original recipe calls for an egg, mayo, and regular cheddar. The few differences made no change in taste and a great change in nutrition! Where there is a will there is always a way :) I did not substitute my pumpkin pie, I instead ran a four mile race to benefit the homeless in Nashville that morning and much to my surprise took first place in my age division for time, so in terms of keeping balance I happily ate my pie afterwards :) Here are a few pictures of my Thanksgiving run in Nashville, TN.
My point to all of this is if I can do this YOU can. There are many days I wake up struggling just to get through a day trying to be a perfect wife, an FRG leader, a mommy to my two girls, maintain a house with piles of laundry and still keep in touch with all of my family i love and miss dearly ( four families of my own plus my husbands side!) It gets exhausting folks! So more times than not the last thing I want to do is eat healthy and work out, but I know that what motivates me is how I look and how I feel. I know what it feels like to run on junk food and have no energy because I have not been taking care of my body. I also know what it feels like to start the day off after a cardio session and a well balanced breakfast. The thing is decisions turn into habits, habits turn into your lifestyle, and before you know it your lifestyle becomes a part of you. It is the Christmas Season who doesn't want to enjoy friends family and food? (Not to mention a few glasses of wine, if you knew me) You have to give some to get some I wake up on the days I work and do something, sometimes it is only a thirty minute Pilate's routine but it gets my metabolism started and my blood flowing. On my lunch break I don't have enough time to really go do anything but I don't want to waste time sitting so I do a quick three mile run. It isn't especially challenging to me now, but it is something that helps me maintain. I started running and could not go longer than five minutes without having to break to walk, I built up my stamina. After I had my second child I ran a 13 minute mile, I started HIIT training and built up to a 12, and then a 10 minute pace, now I run at an 8 minute or less pace per mile. Did it happen over night? Absolutely not. Did I see weight loss results with in the first week? Nope. I struggled, I still struggle but that is part of this beautiful journey guys!!
Do NOT let one bad decision or even a few bad weeks of eating and not training ruin what you have accomplished or what you want to accomplish for your self. Not everyone will understand how you feel, lets be honest ladies there are days we don't understand how we feel ourselves :) You have to make a conscious decision to want to be the best version of you that you can. I know that I will never look as cut as the fitness models on the cover of my magazines, I know that my mother markings of stretch marks and loose skin will probably never fade. Guess what? It is OK. Because it is part of my story, it is part of my journey. If you take a twenty minute walk around the neighborhood that is lapping everyone that is still sitting on the couch. "Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can do what others can't" Your body was not built in a day and it surely will not change in a day, but your mood can change in a matter of minutes once you push yourself to do something you thought you couldn't.
Be realistic, don't think you will go from a size 12 to a size 4 in a matter of two months. Start with small actions you want to become habits, take 15 minutes extra in the morning to do some exercises, swap your regular pasta for whole wheat, and your whole milk for skim. Little changes will become more and more familiar and slowly you will start to see the change within yourself. What is something that you want that petrifies you? My personal goal that scares me to death is to run a marathon so I will start with my half marathon in April and get to where I want to go. I may never make it on a fitness magazine cover, I may never reach masses of women and make hundreds of dollars, but if I can make one person see the beauty of the journey, it is worth it. Here is a picture of me a year ago, nine months pregnant, a picture of me three months post partum, and a picture 9 months post partum to show you what dedication leads to..
I challenge you to make one sacrifice for healthy a day until the new year, it can be as simple as not getting seconds at dinner, trading one soda for a bottle of water, waking up twenty minutes early to do some pinterest or youtube work outs. Do what YOU can, not what every one else thinks you can, but what YOU know you need to do for you. God Bless each of you and never forget to push yourself, or you will never know what you might be capable of!
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